Date: April 27, 2011

My buddy, Preston (Betty’s son), told me about a phone call he received from Hope Trinity Collection Agency. They told him that he owed $600 to a medical facility in Racine. They went further and said that if he didn’t pay it that day, they would take him to court. Well, Preston told him that he’d have someone call them back.

Instead, Preston’s wife – Jerri – called the medical facility instead. Turned out that Preston did indeed owe the $600, but the bill wasn’t past due and it hadn’t been turned over to the collection agency. In fact, they were just waiting on the insurance company.

Jerri told me that she had looked up the phone number and saw nothing but complaints about Hope Trinity Collection Agency. She told me so that Cheryl and I wouldn’t be scammed and now, I’m passing this on to you.

No collection agency can call you and demand instant payment – well, they can, but it isn’t the way the world works. If you receive a call about any bill, don’t immediately pay it to some collection agency unless you know for a fact that it is in collections and, even then, I’d call the actual people to whom you owe the money. It always makes sense to double check anything someone tells you over the phone.